November 30, 2008

Sorry, it's been a while, MIT has been kicking me in the face and I just haven't had time to post anything here. But, to my loyal readers, I present you with a tidbit that ordinarily I would put on the MIT blogs, but instead I think I'll put it here for you.

I started up a Facebook account at the beginning of this school year. I'd had Facebook before but I deleted it after they rolled out apps and top friends. At the beginning of the year Facebook cleaned up all the crap and hid it behind tabs, which made it bearable enough to warrant opening up a new account. I've gone through and grabbed all of my status updates since the semester started and compiled them. It's a relatively entertaining look into how a semester progresses here at MIT, enjoy!

Michael is cautiously testing the Facebook waters. 11:55am

Michael just caught a cokroach beetle thing in his room that would make grown women scream. Pics to come. 1:18pm

Michael is looking for the giant cockroach beetle thing that he tried to capture. He's also not going to be sleeping here tonight. . . 1:32pm

Michael is beginning a full frontal assault on the giant bug hiding in his room. 4:14pm

Michael VICTORY OVER THE BUG!

Michael is looking forward to seeing his parents tomorrow. 8:48pm

Michael is duck boating today. 9:34am

Michael shouldn't be allowed into urban outfitters. 10:00pm

Michael is buying paint for his new room. 6:59pm

Michael is ready for the weekend. Already? Yes. 10:00pm

Michael is painting his room. 11:21pm

Michael and Sauza just realized that our room is now painted in Native American style. Oops. 2:41am

Michael is moving to his new room! 1:43pm

Michael is watching "Flash Gordon". 10:19pm

Michael is in bed. 11:14pm

Michael is at work. 6:25am

Michael is blogging. Duh. 7:37pm

Michael is cleaning the floor for Orientation and REX. 8:57pm

Michael is going to kill the Torries today! 10:15am

Michael killed all the torries. The world is now a better place. 3:42pm

Michael is almost ready for orientation to start. 11:42pm

Michael is discovering that DragonForce lyrics are ridiculous. 6:38am

Michael is glad he went to work today. 9:08pm

Michael needs to do laundry. 4:25pm

Michael had a busy evening. 4:03am

Michael is watching a room get painted in some of the scariest colors ever. 12:05am

Michael is going to clean now. 10:01pm

Michael is really upset that Don LaFontaine died. 1:09pm

Michael is classes! 9:05am

Michael is probably getting cancer from the construction that's going on in the hallway. 2:47pm

Michael is cancer free and ran today. 3:33pm

Michael is enjoying spore. 9:41pm

Michael already knows Matlab! Give me my Friday back! 4:56pm

Michael can solve the first 2.003 PSET question and also almost failed 8.01L last year. What's everybody else's problem? 3:41pm

Michael is getting sick. Nooooo!!! Need. . . airborn . . . 12:56pm

Michael is painting a mural while Vista SP1 installs. 3:37pm

Michael is in 2.005. 1:19pm

Michael is white water rafting. 1:13pm

Michael survived rafting. Oh, and Sara owes me 8. 9:11pm

Michael is 2.005 rape!!! 1:49pm

Michael is 20! 10:30am

Michael is stuck on 2.003 PSET problem 2. HELP! 12:59am

Michael is doing 2.005. 8:46pm

Michael is really tired of 2.003. 10:30am

Michael is drowning in Digital Poetry. Suuuuuuuck. 7:09pm

Michael is 2.003. 10:59am

Michael is playing with his brand new macbook. 1:30am

Michael needs help on 2.003 problem 2! HELP! 10:51pm

Michael is going to sleep. 12:21am

Michael is freaking out about mitadmissions. 9:44pm

Michael is one test down, one to go. 7:36pm

Michael is going to have to retake 2.005 :(. 12:18pm

Michael is going to have a toy on shelves! 8:58pm

Michael is grinding through life at the 'tute. 12:53pm

Michael is watching CNN! 7:15pm

Michael is election-ing. 8:47pm

Michael is going to have to figure out 2.005 at some point. 9:04pm

Michael is angry both at the letter "S" and the word "Instantaneous". 12:14pm

November 07, 2008

"Gee," I thought, "A blogging scholarship. Well, I'm not a woman, a minority, I don't have a parent in a particular industry, I'm not the smartest in my class or major, and I haven't done anything Nobel Prize worthy, so I don't really qualify for other scholarships, but I could definitely go for a blogging scholarship."

Unfortunately, I heard about it just a bit late last year and couldn't apply, which is probably for the better because Jess won $1,000 and probably would have bumped me out of the running. This year, however, I applied and after about a week of waiting the finalists were announced. With five times as many applicants as last year, I'm extremely excited to announce that I am one of the top twenty finalists!

Before I make my pitch I'd like to share my short essay that I submitted to apply.

My blogging began during my junior year of high school. Like the majority of angsty high schoolers, I started a blog because I was angry at life and felt like spilling my deepest, darkest secrets onto the Internet for everybody to read. Unlike the majority of angsty high schoolers, after I signed up for my blog I decided *not* to be angsty. Instead, I wanted to compile all of my most awesome stories, the coolest stuff I found on the Internet, and other random Internet fodder that I find entertaining. No drama, no gossip, no deep emotional musings. Entertainment, funny pictures, and stories. That's it.

My personal blog was around for about two years before I started writing my blog for the MIT Admissions website. A lot of the blogs for MIT were very informative and very factual but not very fun to read. My goal? Write entries for MIT that not only were informative and factual, but also toed that line between appropriate and ridiculously off topic and random. I wanted people to *want* to read my blogs, to start and not be able to stop, to be entertained, but at the end feel like they know a little more about MIT. Maybe not directly, but sometimes the best information is absorbed indirectly and unknowingly.

My blog entries tell stories about eating contests, danger signs, snowball fights, LEGOs, toys, and all sorts of MIT's lesser known tidbits. Sometimes I get yelled at for being off topic. I don't care. I still strive to fill the Internet with awesome and will continue to do so on into the future.

So, that being said, if you can find it within you to do so, please vote for me. A $10,000 scholarship would be huge (MIT is kind of expensive). Here's a link to the site where you can vote:

I don't know exactly when voting is closed, it's probably around November 17th so go out and vote! Thanks a ton you guys, I don't mean to essentially blog a commercial but, well, I kind of am. I'll make up for it, I promise : )